


dear happy

by jaehwandred



Category: VIXX
Genre: M/M, Trust me on this one, listen just hear me out, yeah the narrator is a dog, yes this is 1st person pov
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-24
Updated: 2016-12-24
Packaged: 2018-09-11 15:40:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,741
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8996869
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jaehwandred/pseuds/jaehwandred
Summary: The winter adventures of Jaehwan and Sanghyuk as told through the eyes of their most loyal companion. Except their companion has four eyes, a lot of fur, and a very loud bark.





	

It was the first day that the man with the bell on the corner of fourth street had failed to appear. He had become a staple in the winter scene for the past several weeks with his red and white suit, booming laugh, and metal bowl where people would walk past and give him shiny coins and green bills. But today his corner was left empty and the streets were remarkably devoid of people as well. 

And that meant that there wouldn’t be as many people walking the streets which made my life quite a bit easier because at less than a foot in height, it was hard to avoid those many pairs of feet. But that meant there would be no little hands reaching inquisitively out with snack sized morsels in them and no leftover meals dropped accidentally onto sides of streets. 

Still, the day was new and there was always food to be found somewhere in the city.

The alley I called home wasn’t warm, it wasn’t great, and it didn’t smell good but hey, at least it was something. I toddled out as fast as my legs could carry me. I was six months old now and the weight of my body had finally stopped trying to work against me which meant that I could even run without tripping over myself too often! The week old snow caught in between my feet as I emerged, blinking in the reflected daylight. 

“Aw, honey, look,” came a voice from two paces away. My tail wagged as I looked up into the face of a woman and her mate. She smelled nice so of course I had to bury my wet nose right into her pant leg. Humans seemed to like that because she made a high pitch noise that startled me but, no, it seemed that it was a happy noise. How strange. “Oh, you’re so cute. How can a little puppy like you be all alone out here on Christmas?”

“Careful, it might bite,” came the deeper voice of her mate.

“Oh, stop it,” she chided, running a gloved hand through my fur, “She’s so precious, just look at her!” I watched her hand with interest. It was so bright and fluffy and it moved so quickly—

“Ow!” She cried out when I grabbed the glove in my teeth, growling playfully as I tugged at it. 

“I told you,” he said in a bored voice, prying me off of the prize, “Come on, let’s go.” 

Wait, were they leaving already? I tried to follow them but when the bigger and scarier one chased me off, I got the message. The city was not a very friendly place for a stray.

 

—

I put it behind me and I couldn’t quite find breakfast but I did find mark every single tree I passed by that morning which was almost as good of a victory. It wasn’t until mid afternoon that I reached the city park, perfect hunting grounds for the perfect leftover hot dog. 

Except the cart wasn’t here today either. And neither were the crowds of humans that I had grown to expect. 

Still, I was never one to waste a trip. I let my nose guide me, criss crossing the frosted grass. My feet carried me with increasing urgency when I caught a scent. Yes, there were some people out and about today! Thank goodness they hadn’t _all_ chosen this strange day to hide in their homes. 

I crested the hill and there I saw them.

Two human boys walking through the park side by side. They weren’t ever as nice as the girls were to me but it was always worth a try. I barked to them and yes, my voice must be growing stronger by the day because one of them turned toward me, face quizzical. Then he grinned, his face scrunching up in delight just at the sight of me. 

“Sanghyuk, look!” The one in the big coat said, pointing toward me. 

I took that as a good sign and trotted the length between us, my tail wagging all the way. These humans didn’t smell like they had any food on them but you never knew. The one that had pointed to me happily embraced me, picking me straight up off the ground! My feet dangled as he held me up to his face but I was okay with that because this one looked friendly. And he was right within licking distance too.

He giggled as I licked every inch of his face that I could reach, tail wagging madly all the while. “Oh my God, Jaehwan, what if he has rabies?”

“It’ll have been worth it,” said the boy holding me, “He’s so cute!” 

“How do you know it’s a boy?”

“Because he has a penis, you dipshit,” said Jaehwan who held me close to his chest. I pressed my face against his jacket and even through all the layers of clothing, I could hear his heartbeat steady and strong. “Where is your home, little buddy?” 

I had no idea what he was saying but he was talking to me and his voice was kind so I figured just blinking at him with a little head tilt would be good enough. 

“Does he have a collar?” asked the other one. Sanghyuk, his name was. I think. It was hard to keep track of everything sometimes when it was much more fun to try and catch the snowflakes falling from the sky.

“No, I don’t think he’s lost,” Jaehwan said, “Come on, even dogs don’t deserve to be alone on Christmas. Let’s take him home just for today and we’ll go to the animal shelter tomorrow, alright? I promise, this isn’t keeping him forever.” 

I quickly lost interest in whatever it was they were doing because humans spent much too long staring at each other and talking. I squirmed in Jaehwan’s grip but he only held me closer. 

Sanghyuk sighed. Jaehwan took this opportunity to nettle him even more. “Come on, don’t even deny it. He’s adorable.” 

Sanghyuk looked between Jaehwan and me. He took another long, hard look at me then looked back up to Jaehwan’s pleading face. He sighed again. “Fine,” he said, conceding defeat, “But only for today.”

Jaehwan pulled Sanghyuk toward him, crushing him in a hug with me in the middle. It wasn’t so bad a feeling, though, and I wanted to let them know that by, well of course, reaching up and licking their chins. Sanghyuk didn’t seem to like that as much as Jaehwan though because he pulled away, complaining, “God, that’s gross.” 

The boy with me in his arms laughed, shaking his head. “Come on, let’s go back home.” 

— 

They didn’t keep me for just one day. I never even made it to the animal shelter at all. I could tell that Sanghyuk didn’t like me nearly as much as Jaehwan did at first. Whatever happened that first night, Jaehwan had somehow managed to convince him to let me stay. Sanghyuk did seem like he was in a much happier mood after they got home that night after dinner and they disappeared into their bedroom. I guess I can relate. Dinner made me a lot happier too. When they curled up in front of the fire with me that night, Sanghyuk seemed a lot more open to the idea of keeping me for at least a week before deciding what they would do. 

The next morning, Jaehwan went back to work. That left me alone with Sanghyuk. He didn’t really know what to do with me at first and I didn’t know what to do with him either. 

Then I found out that he was a little strange. He was pretty calm when he took me outside at first but when I took it upon myself to relieve myself on the nearest tree, he got really excited over that. Like, really excited. As in, “Yes, good! What a good boy!” 

Alright,I figured I would take praise wherever it came from. 

It got a little confusing, though, when I did the exact same thing inside at noon but I got yelled at instead for that and rushed out the door. But I was doing the exact same thing as I was doing outside.

When I relieved myself on the newspapers he set up right next to the door, I didn’t get any negative overreaction but his reaction was a sort of tepid neutral. I still didn’t understand why the location in which I relieved myself made a difference to him. 

When Jaehwan returned that night, I realized they both were a little strange about that. They seemed to both really like it when I did my business outside. Humans, sometimes. 

— 

They both talked to me a lot more, calling me a lot of random things. “Here, Dusty!” “Fluffy?” Sanghyuk would ask me inquisitively. 

“Buddy! George! Bailey! Vixxen, Rudolph, Dancer?” Jaehwan would call to me when I took it upon myself to trot over to them. I didn’t really get the point of this activity but they always seemed happy when I responded. They really did seem to get excited over a lot of things when it came to me. 

“Those are just reindeer names,” said Sanghyuk, laughing softly.

“Tofu?” Jaehwan asked hopefully and my ears perked up at that and I barked.

“I’m not calling the dog Tofu,” Sanghyuk said flatly.

“Oh, why not? It’s cute,” said Jaehwan stoutly, “Tofu? Tofu!” He called to me and I leapt happily into his arms. 

Sanghyuk shrugged in an almost hopeless fashion, “I mean I guess?” 

“Well, I like it and you have terrible taste in names anyway. I’m not naming the dog Fluffy. That’s too cliche,” defended Jaehwan, bringing me up to his face, “Tofu it is!” 

— 

I soon found out that my job was mostly to keep Sanghyuk company while Jaehwan was gone. I think that despite our slightly rocky start, Sanghyuk really grew to warm up to me. When he would put down his books and pencils, we would go on walks together through the neighbourhood. “Him?” Sanghyuk would say when questioned by his neighbors, “This is Tofu. He’s a poodle? Maltese? Mix? Thing? I think? I don’t really know but Jaehwan thought he was cute so now we have a new dog.” 

My job was a great one, actually. I got to keep his feet warm when I slept on them but he did seem to get upset when I started to bite at them. I was his official plate cleaner after dinner (only when Jaehwan wasn’t looking, though). I had a box with a soft pillow in it to sleep on but it was much more fun to jump onto their bed and sleep on Jaehwan’s head in the middle of the night.

We had a lot of fun together, Sanghyuk and I. One of my favorite things to do was learn tricks as they called them. “Sit,” Sanghyuk would say, “No, Tofu, just, yeah, like that, sit!” Then he would push my butt to the ground and I would look up at him and I would get a treat and we would all be happy. It was a win-win situation as far as I was concerned. 

I could tell that Sanghyuk loved me because after awhile, he started to hold me like Jaehwan did and I got to lick his face too. He always fed me under the table and he even got in the car with me and we would drive to so many places! We would go to the mountains together, sometimes, and explore the trails then head home just before Jaehwan did. But he also spent a lot of time at his desk and that was okay, too. As long as I got to be with him, it didn’t matter too much that sometimes he would forget to walk me in the afternoon. 

As much as Sanghyuk loved me, I could tell that Sanghyuk loved Jaehwan too and Jaehwan loved him back. I think that’s why they would always hug each other like they hugged me and I think that’s why Sanghyuk’s heart would always race when he heard the door open. I was happy when they were happy and around each other, they would always laugh and kiss. 

My favorite days were the days where Jaehwan, Sanghyuk, and I all did something together. We went to the mountains one day but away from all of the noise and trouble of the kids and adults with those boards strapped to their feet. I was walking with Jaehwan, weaving in and out through all of the pine trees when all of a sudden, something hit us from behind! 

I jumped from the noise of pain that Jaehwan made. At first, I was scared but then to my surprise, Jaehwan began to laugh! Wasn’t he hurt just a second ago?

It was just Sanghyuk, popping up from behind a tree, holding a handful of snow. I wagged my tail. I knew this game. We played “Fetch” all the time but never with Jaehwan involved. 

Jaehwan dropped my leash in the ground and wasted no time retaliating with a huge ball of snow himself. That meant I had free rein. I barked in joy, leaping into the air and pelting after the snowballs they threw at each other. 

I jumped into the air to catch one, just like Sanghyuk taught me, but when I got it in my mouth, it disintegrated and went everywhere. Wait, what? That’s not what happened at home. 

My humans were laughing at me, their cheeks rosy in the cold. I didn’t understand the cause of their laughter but I simply wagged my tail along with them, barking excitedly. 

They played fetch for awhile until Jaehwan gave up and instead just tackled Sanghyuk to the ground. This was also something that I could get behind, even though I was already tired from trying to catch all those snowballs. I jumped on top of them, interrupting whatever it was they were doing but they didn’t seem too mad at me. 

“Hey,” said Jaehwan, clearly the loser of the fight as he was pinned unfortunately beneath Sanghyuk’s weight, “I love you, you know that right?”

Sanghyuk grinned goofily down at him and kissed him, “I know. I love you, too.”

That was great and all but it was cold and we were done playing. I wanted to go home. So of course, I barked to let them know. What would they do without me? They weren’t very good at keeping track of time, were they? 

 

I snuggled into Sanghyuk’s lap as we drove home, trying to stay awake as they sang to the Christmas carols on the radio. It was crazy to me that just a month ago, I hadn’t known these two boys. I had never been happier in my life and I like to think that my two humans were just as happy. 

— 

I didn’t grow as much as I wanted to over the next year. My legs grew a little longer but I still had to work more than three times as hard to keep up with my boys at a sprint. It was unfair that they were so tall and I was so small. Sometimes when they were being silly and racing each other through the park, one of them would just scoop me up and carry me with them instead of waiting for me to catch up. 

Winter came and passed and all the snow melted. The snow was fun but Jaehwan seemed very happy to be rid of it all. I still had all the energy that I had as a puppy two years down the road but my humans got busier so that meant less walks and less time for them to play with me. 

They didn’t seem to play with each other as much anymore.

I think that they still loved each other but they didn’t show it as much. They yelled at each other once and I had to hide in my box with the pillow. When it was over, Sanghyuk slammed the door and stormed out and Jaehwan and I ate dinner by ourselves. It was okay, though, because Sanghyuk came back that night and even though they didn’t kiss or hug, they seemed alright.

— 

Jaehwan brought me home a new bone that night so I curled up at their feet, chewing happily on it. Even though I was happy, Jaehwan seemed sad when they talked that night.

“You’re going back to Korea?” asked Sanghyuk quietly.

Jaehwan sighed heavily, running a hand through his hair, “My parents—” 

“We’ll make this work,” he said fiercely.

Jaehwan smiled weakly, “We have to.” 

— 

For awhile, they were just as good as they were two winters ago and I was just as happy again. We went to the beach so many times that summer that I learned to love the cool ocean water just as much as I loved chasing snowflakes in the front lawn of the apartment building. But whenever they got home, Sanghyuk had something called “deadlines” that made him very stressed and they didn’t talk as much then when he got into that mood. He just stayed up very late on his laptop and by the time he went to sleep, Jaehwan was already up and getting ready to go to work. 

They tried very hard to still be just as in love as they were but they were always frustrated with each other. 

“Sanghyuk, both of us are busy but this isn’t going to work if I’m willing to make time for you and you aren’t,” Jaehwan would say.

“I know,” Sanghyuk would reply bitterly, “But this article is due and I really can’t miss this deadline. Tomorrow, alright?”

I could tell they always had more to say to each other but they never did so Jaehwan would take me for a long walk. I liked walks but they weren’t very fun when Jaehwan spent a lot of the time on his phone instead of enjoying our time together. 

I spent a lot of time with Jaehwan up at night on the sofa when he couldn’t sleep. I liked cuddling with him but I began to get a little worried, too. Why wasn’t he sleeping as much anymore? 

I still liked it when I got them to smile because of me but I liked it more when they were smiling because of each other.

— 

Then came the day that Jaehwan left. The most emotion I heard that morning was in Sanghyuk’s annoyed, “No, Tofu, how many times have I told you not to chew on the suitcase?” They didn’t talk very much in the car on the way there. 

The airport was a scary place. The sounds were too much, cars kept rushing past us, and the great big planes in the air roared so loudly that it almost deafened me. Still, I obligingly licked Jaehwan’s face when he knelt down to my level because I could tell that he was sadder than he had ever been. His eyes welled up with tears as he hugged me close to him and oh, no, I didn’t like it when my human ever cried. I licked at his face with even more effort as the tears fell thickly down his face, “Oh, Tofu,” he said, pulling me away from his face, “I’m going to miss you so much, you little devil of a dog.” He sounded a little happier in a very sad way but I wagged my tail all the same. “Sanghyuk will take good care of you, okay? And I’ll come back one day.” He smiled at me, even though there were still tears in his eyes and he pet me fondly on the head, “You’re a good boy, Tofu.” 

Then he straightened and faced Sanghyuk and I looked up at them, hoping that Sanghyuk could make Jaehwan smile where he couldn’t. But all that happened was that they hugged awkwardly, Sanghyuk’s grip on my leash tightening minutely when they pulled away.

“We’ll keep in touch, alright?” said Jaehwan. He hesitated and shuffled his feet, “I— know we didn’t work out but we’ll still be friends, right?” 

“Yeah, for sure,” said Sanghyuk almost noncommittally. 

They looked at each other for a beat too long like they had more to say but Jaehwan grabbed his suitcase and took a step away. “I guess this is goodbye for now?”

“For now,” Sanghyuk said lightly, “We’ll Skype though. Don’t worry about me too much, I have Tofu for company.” 

Jaehwan laughed a little at that, “He’ll keep you entertained, if nothing else,” he said, readjusting his backpack, “Well, goodbye then, Sanghyuk.” 

“Goodbye, Jaehwan.”

I watched him go like I did every morning and got back into the car with Sanghyuk who turned up the music and drove away so quickly I nearly fell off the seat. He had never driven so fast in his life.

— 

When we got home that night, Sanghyuk disappeared into his room but that morning, Jaehwan had gotten me a new chew toy so I was willing to leave him alone when I could focus all my effort into demolishing a new bone instead.

I waited that night by the door, my tail wagging in hope every time I heard footsteps coming up the rickety stairs outside our apartment. Every time, though, they would continue on without opening our door. 

“He’s not coming home, Tofu,” Sanghyuk’s voice interrupted my thoughts, full of bitterness, “Jaehwan is gone.”

I cocked my head at him. I recognized my name and Jaehwan’s name but he sounded so sad. Where was Jaehwan? 

I howled into the night when he didn’t return and Sanghyuk didn’t bother trying to get me to be quiet like he usually did. 

We both woke up next morning and Jaehwan didn’t come back. Not that morning or the next. Jaehwan had really gone.

— 

Life was alright with just Sanghyuk and I. I loved Sanghyuk as fiercely as I loved Jaehwan but without Jaehwan there, Sanghyuk wasn’t quite himself. Even when they had been fighting, they still made each other happy and I think that he missed Jaehwan as much as I did. We still went on our walks and played fetch at the park but Sanghyuk seemed to have run out of tricks to teach me now. 

The only bright side was with Jaehwan gone, Sanghyuk seemed to have no more qualms of feeding me all of his leftovers instead of only the ones Jaehwan deemed acceptable. This was a very positive development. 

Except for the time that Sanghyuk decided that giving me a nearly full plate of pasta was a good idea. I thought it was a good idea but my stomach hurt so much later that day that he had to take me to the veterinarian and call Jaehwan to sheepishly explain what happened. 

I grew used to a life without Jaehwan and it seemed that Sanghyuk did, too. Sometime during the summer, I noticed a definite increase in the amount of walks we took. Every time we went, Sanghyuk would take the exact same route past the grassy lawn and it always seemed like the days we ran into the other boy, Taekwoon, were better than the rest. 

Taekwoon seemed to like me as much as Jaehwan did, if not more, but his type of affection wasn’t quite nearly as smothering as Jaehwan’s. Don’t get me wrong, he was alright and Sanghyuk seemed to like him too but we both seemed to have reached the same conclusion. He still wasn’t Jaehwan.

They became good friends, though. But Sanghyuk seemed to like Taekwoon’s food a lot more than he ever liked Jaehwan’s food so the amount of leftovers significantly decreased compared to Jaehwan’s reign in the apartment.

They talked a lot but at the end of the day, Sanghyuk still talked to Jaehwan through the magical screen. Those were my favorite times of the day, too. I couldn’t smell him or cuddle with him but I loved the way that Sanghyuk’s face lit up and I loved the way he laughed with Jaehwan that he didn’t with Taekwoon. When I curled up against Sanghyuk’s side every night, taking Jaehwan’s old spot, I could feel it in the quiet sadness radiating off of him in waves. He missed him too. 

— 

“Merry Christmas, Tofu,” said Sanghyuk, holding out a new stuffed toy to me. I barked in glee and grabbed it from him, zipping away from the bedroom. Sanghyuk laughed after me and followed me into our tiny living room, scratching behind my ears fondly as I grabbed the stuffed Santa between my teeth and shook him violently. There was no finer way to enjoy a new stuffed toy then dismembering it limb by limb, of course. “Guess it’s just you and me this year, boy.” 

I ignored him in favor of settling down with the fake Santa between my paws, gnawing steadily where his neck met the rest of his plush body. “Can you believe that it’s been, what? Three years since we found you that year?” he reminisced fondly, sitting cross legged on the floor. “Geez, you could have had actually had rabies or something and Jaehwan didn’t even care.”

I wagged my tail lightly at the mention of Jaehwan’s name and rolled onto my back with the toy still between my paws, tilting my head back to look at my human. “You were cute, though,” he admitted out loud, “Just realized I’ve probably seemed a little crazy all year talking to you but you don’t mind, right?” 

I heard the question in his voice so I barked back and this made him smile. Sanghyuk scratched my exposed stomach lightly, “Even though you look kind of homeless sometimes, I’m glad we kept you around.” I rolled right side up again, chewing with renewed force on Santa’s hat when Sanghyuk was interrupted by a phone call, “I’ll be right back.” 

My ears perked up as he walked away as I followed him back to his room, toy in my mouth. “Merry Christmas to you too,” he said fondly into the phone, heading back out to the kitchen, fiddling with the coffee maker, “What? Yeah, I’m home right now, why? What are you doing today? You’re— what?” Sanghyuk froze, turning around with coffee mug in hand. “You’re fucking with me.” 

He set the coffee mug down gingerly, hanging up. I followed at his heels, feeling his excitement inexplicably grow. I wanted to be excited too and I bounced after him, my bark high pitched. “No, bad Tofu, shut up,” he said absent-mindedly as he rushed to the front door and swung it open. “Oh my God.” 

I peeked out between his legs and yipped even louder, my tail wagging at exponentially increased speeds. 

“Jaehwan—” 

Sanghyuk wasn’t able to get another word out before Jaehwan pulled him into a hug, nearly crushing me in the process. Then, he kissed him. My body felt as if it was going to burst into excitement as I danced around the two of them, leaping into the air. 

“Merry Christmas?” said Jaehwan sheepishly, his smile crinkling up his eyes. “Tell me that I’m not the best present you ever expected to get.”

“You are the worst,” said Sanghyuk flatly before he pulled him closer to kiss him again. 

— 

I was back in my favorite spot on the couch: right in between my two favorite humans. Jaehwan had lavished me with many “Good boys” and half of the treat jar after they had gotten reacquainted with each other. They picked right back up where they had left off. They were happy again. Truly happy. I looked up at my two humans and licked Jaehwan’s face, my paws pressed against his big fluffy winter coat. 

“You’re here to stay, this time? Swear it,” asked Sanghyuk almost hesitantly. 

 

Jaehwan reached over to grab both of his hands in his, looking ardently into his eyes, “I swear it.” 

“I love you, still. You know that, right?”

Jaehwan smiled, “I know.” 

 

The world felt right again that night. There was nothing better than going to bed with a belly full of a warm dinner, the smell of hot chocolate in the air, a crackling fire, and my two favorite humans in the world.

**Author's Note:**

> -This originally just started off as a writing warm-up because I had planned on getting some serious work on Atlas done but I wrote this instead. I wanted to write a Christmas fic but didn't want it to be too cliche so I hope that wherever you are this holiday season, this fic made you smile!  
> -Comments and kudos are very much appreciated  
> -You can follow me on both [twitter](twitter.com/jaehwandred) and [tumblr](chanstraeus.tumblr.com)!


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